Delorimier Stadium
Encyclopedia
Sports Stadium
Sports Stadium was an Irish television sport programme on Raidió Teilifís Éireann . Broadcast between 1973 and 1997, it was RTÉ's flagship sports programme and one of its longest-running shows....
at 2101 Ontario Street East, at the corner of De Lorimier Avenue in the present-day Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
borough of Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve is a borough of Montreal, Quebec.-History:In 1860, Hochelaga developed as a village counting a little more than 1000 inhabitants. In 1874, Hudon — a cotton factory- moved in...
. The stadium was home to the Montreal Royals
Montreal Royals
The Montreal Royals were a minor league professional baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec, that existed from 1897–1917 and from 1928–60 as a member of the International League and its progenitor, the original Eastern League...
International League
International League
The International League is a minor league baseball league that operates in the eastern United States. Like the Pacific Coast League and the Mexican League, it plays at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. It was so named because it had teams in both the United States...
baseball team, top farm club of the Brooklyn Dodgers Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
team, from 1928 to 1960, and from 1946 to 1953, home to the Montreal Alouettes
Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes are a Canadian Football League team based in Montreal, Quebec.The current franchise named the Alouettes moved to Montreal from Baltimore, Maryland, in 1996 where they had been known as the Baltimore Stallions...
of the Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
.
Delorimier Downs, as it was originally called, was built by former Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
manager, George Stallings
George Stallings
George Tweedy Stallings was an American manager and player in Major League Baseball. His most famous achievement – leading the Boston Braves from last place in mid-July to the National League championship and a World Series sweep of the powerful Philadelphia Athletics – resulted in a nickname he...
, Montreal lawyer and politician, Athanase David
Athanase David
Louis Athanase David was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and businessman. He is son of Laurent-Olivier David, also a Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician....
, and Montreal businessman, Ernest Savard
Ernest Savard
J. Ernest Savard was a Canadian stock broker and a partner in the brokerage firm of Savard & Hart in Montreal, Quebec.A sports fan, in 1928 Savard partnered with fellow Montreal businessman and politician Athanase David and American baseball executive George Stallings to revive the Montreal Royals...
. Among the stadium's other local affluent financiers were close friends Lucien Beauregard, Romeo Gauvreau, Hector H. Racine, and Charles E. Trudeau. The stadium opened in May 1928 following a parade and a large inauguration ceremony. Royals' general manager Frank Shaughnessy
Frank Shaughnessy
Francis Joseph "Shag" Shaughnessy was an American athlete and sports executive. Shaughnessy played both baseball and football and was an executive in baseball, football and ice hockey. He was born in the United States and moved to Canada in the 1910s, where he was involved with football and ice...
had a lighting system installed in the stadium for the 1935 season.
The stadium saw the launching of the baseball career of Gene Mauch
Gene Mauch
Gene William Mauch was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball as a second baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers , Pittsburgh Pirates , Chicago Cubs , Boston Braves , St...
, who later came back to manage the Montreal Expos
Montreal Expos
The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...
, plus future Hall of Fame
National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 25 Main Street in Cooperstown, New York, operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of...
members Sparky Anderson
Sparky Anderson
George Lee "Sparky" Anderson was an American Major League Baseball manager. He managed the National League's Cincinnati Reds to the 1975 and 1976 championships, then added a third title in 1984 with the Detroit Tigers of the American League. He was the first manager to win the World Series in both...
, Roberto Clemente
Roberto Clemente
Roberto Clemente Walker was a Puerto Rican Major League Baseball right fielder. He was born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, the youngest of seven children. Clemente played his entire 18-year baseball career with the Pittsburgh Pirates . He was awarded the National League's Most Valuable Player Award in...
and Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
, the man who, first debuting in professional baseball with the Montreal Royals in 1946, would go on to break baseball's color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Other Royals' players of note include player-turned-actor Chuck Connors
Chuck Connors
Chuck Connors was an American actor, writer, and professional basketball and baseball player. His best known role from his forty-year film career was Lucas McCain in the 1960s ABC hit Western series The Rifleman....
and Hall of Fame members Duke Snider
Duke Snider
Edwin Donald "Duke" Snider , nicknamed "The Silver Fox" and "The Duke of Flatbush", was a Major League Baseball center fielder and left-handed batter who played for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers , New York Mets , and San Francisco Giants .Snider was elected to the National Baseball Hall of...
, Don Drysdale
Don Drysdale
Donald Scott "Don" Drysdale was a Major League Baseball player and Hall of Fame right-handed pitcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was one of the dominant starting pitchers of the 1960s, and became a radio and television broadcaster following his playing career...
, Walter Alston
Walter Alston
Walter Emmons Alston , nicknamed "Smokey," was an American baseball player and manager. He was born in Venice, Ohio but grew up in Darrtown. He is a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where he lettered three years in both basketball and baseball and is a member of the University's Hall...
, Roy Campanella
Roy Campanella
Roy Campanella , nicknamed "Campy", was an American baseball player, primarily at the position of catcher, in the Negro leagues and Major League Baseball...
and Tommy Lasorda
Tommy Lasorda
Thomas Charles Lasorda is a former Major League baseball player and manager. marked his sixth decade in one capacity or another with the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers organization, the longest non-continuous tenure anyone has had with the team, edging Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully...
.
The Montreal Alouettes were founded in 1946 and played there to capacity crowds until 1953 when the team moved to larger facilities. It is where Canadian Football Hall of Fame
Canadian Football Hall of Fame
The Canadian Football Hall of Fame is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is an open to the public institution. It includes displays about the Canadian Football League, Canadian university football and Canadian...
quarterback Sam Etcheverry
Sam Etcheverry
Sam "The Rifle" Etcheverry was a professional American and Canadian football player and head coach. Etcheverry played the quarterback position, most famously with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League, and was named Canadian football's Most Outstanding Player in 1954...
made his CFL
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
debut.
In 1951, several British football (soccer)
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
teams toured North America. Celtic
Celtic F.C.
Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...
played an exhibition match at Delorimier Stadium on May 20th against Fulham
Fulham F.C.
Fulham Football Club is a professional English Premier League club based in southwest London Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Founded in 1879, they play in the Premier League, their 11th current season...
. In 1957 Celtic returned to Delorimier for a June 9th exhibition match against Tottenham Hotspur. Although six years apart, on both occasions the ticket price was 15¢.
Delorimier Stadium was also the site of a number of professional boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
and wrestling
Wrestling
Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
matches.
In June 1952, Walter O'Malley
Walter O'Malley
Walter Francis O'Malley was an American sports executive who owned the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers team in Major League Baseball from to . He served as Brooklyn Dodgers chief legal counsel when Jackie Robinson broke the racial color barrier in...
, Brooklyn Dodgers chief shareholder (owner) and president, travelled to Delorimier Stadium to dedicate a plaque to Hector Racine, Montreal Royals owner and team president, and Brooklyn Dodgers Board of Directors member. Delorimier Stadium saw Walter O'Malley return four years later to attend Hector Racine Memorial Night with a high-ranking delegation of Brooklyn Dodgers, International League
International League
The International League is a minor league baseball league that operates in the eastern United States. Like the Pacific Coast League and the Mexican League, it plays at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. It was so named because it had teams in both the United States...
and Major League
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
baseball executives. Only this time it was to dedicate a plaque to honor Hector Racine's memory. Hector Racine died that same year in Miami, Florida after watching the Brooklyn Dodgers lose to the Boston Red Sox in an exhibition game. With Racine in the Delorimier Stadium president's office, the Royals won more pennants, playoffs and Little World Series than any club in International League history to date.
After the Montreal Royals ceased to operate in 1960, the stadium saw limited use and was eventually torn down. Prior to the demolition of the stadium, the building was torn down in bits, and the interior was used to house makeshift classrooms as the student population in Quebec grew rapidly (due to kids staying in school longer) in the late 1960s (see External link below). The site is now occupied by the Pierre Dupuy School, a secondary school. There is a small stone memorial at the corner of the park (Ontario and Delorimier) with a bronze plaque honouring Mr. Robinson's accomplishments.
External links
- Montreal's Delorimier Downs Baseball Stadium as business and centre of mass culture, 1928-1960 - a link to thesis written about the stadium.